Land and Limits

The first edition of this seminal book was written at a time of rapidly growing interest in the potential for land use planning to deliver sustainable development, and explored the connections between the two and implications for public policy. In the decade since the book was first conceived, environmental imperatives have risen still further up the policial agenda and land use conflicts have intensified, lending even greater importance to the authors’ research.

In a rigorous discussion of concepts, policy instruments and contemporary planning dilemmas, the authors challenge prevailing assumptions about planning for sustainability. After charting the remarkable growth in expectations of planning, they show how attempts to interpret sustainability must lead to fundamental moral and political choices.

Susan Owens is Professor of Environment and Policy at the University of Cambridge, Department of Geography, and a Professorial Fellow of Newnham College. She has long-standing research interests in environmental policy, politics and planning. She was a member of the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution 1998-2008.

Richard Cowell is Senior Lecturer in Environmental Planning and Policy at Cardiff University, where his research focuses on the relationship between planning and sustainable development.